Trevor must have sensed my eyes lingering on him, because he raised an eyebrow at me when we reached the top of the stairs. “So,” I said casually. “You’re a man of few words, Big T.” He grunted and motioned toward the hallway on the left. Just how many bedrooms did this place have?
“I don’t suppose you have a home gym here, T-Man?” I asked hopefully. My leg may have healed, but the muscle didn’t quite feel right. I needed to get moving if I wanted it to get back to normal. It would also help to shift into my panther form and then back to human, but I wasn’t quite sure if that would be safe here. It was one thing for Austin to tell his pack there was a panther on the premises. It was an entirely different thing to run into that panther hunting on your territory.
“You need to change first,” Trevor ground out as he gestured at my uniform.
“Fantastic, T-Rev,” I said brightly. I could already tell that it was going to be fun to poke and prod at this guy until I broke that icy façade. I could feel the way his magic intertwined with mine that there was something between us, something that would be fun to explore. Careful. My inner voice warned me. Don’t get attached.
I slipped into the bedroom the big wolf had gestured to and dropped the duffel on the floor. I was glad that he hadn’t offered to carry it for me, I would have taken it as an insult on my ability to function as a marine. Despite the grandiose design of the house, the bedroom was empty of any furniture other than a bed. I shrugged. It wasn’t like I’d be staying here long, and I was used to living out of a duffel. I dumped my clothes out on the floor because I knew there was going to be sand in there. There was always sand everywhere after a deployment. I’d still be finding it months later, and I didn’t want it in this bed.
I didn’t have an ample supply of civilian clothes in the bag because, well, it’s not like I’d needed them in Afghanistan. I pulled on my official PT gear, not caring what T-Rex thought about me being in uniform when I didn’t have to be.
“Are you ready?” I chirped at him as I stepped out of the bedroom.
His hazel eyes flicked down over me, and I held back a grin as tendrils of his magic reached out to tangle with my own. Instead of answering, he merely pushed off the wall where he had been leaning and motioned for us to go back down the stairs.
“Listen,” I told him seriously. “I need to know your last name, because I’m running out of
T nicknames to call you. I’m just not that creative.”
He flicked his eyes in my direction but otherwise ignored me. “Fine,” I grumbled. “But you’re not going to like what I come up with.”
“Yo,” a tall guy with dirty blonde hair greeted us when we entered the gym, and I immediately had hair envy. His fell to his strong shoulders in tousled waves that made me want to run my hands through it. He was more rugged than styled, but that just made him even more attractive to me. The bastard probably woke up looking good enough to make women drool as he walked by. Mike’s magic was warm and earthy and made me want to roll around in it and purr. Instead of being weird, I merely greeted him with a tilt of my chin. I’m sure the guy already knew he was attractive, there was no reason for me to pump his ego up anymore.
T-Rex nodded a response, and I realized that he had created an entire language out of grunts and facial movements.
“I’m Mike,” the new guy said as he held out a hand.
“Sam,” I said with a smile. I was trying not to drool, but this guy was hot in a shirt that clung to his muscles in all the right places. I kept my eyes on his in an attempt not to perv on him and was immediately sucked into those ocean blue depths. I saw a hint of sadness lurking beneath his polite façade, and that struck a chord within me. Losing Hart had changed something deep inside me, and I had a feeling he was someone who would understand.
“Since we’re introducing ourselves,” I said with a sneaky smile. “What’s this guy’s last name?” I jerked my thumb towards Trevor.
Mike blinked in surprise but opened his mouth to answer. I leaned forward in anticipation, but after a glance at the T-man, he shut his mouth again. “Oh, c’mon,” I coaxed him. “He hasn’t liked any of my nicknames for him so far.”
Mike shot me an amused look. “Perseus.”
“Really?” I asked in surprise. “Percy fits even less than Trevor.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “You could call him cupcake, and that still doesn’t make him any less lethal.”
I snuck a glance over at Trevor, but his face was still frozen solid. Not even a frown was peeking out. Maybe I was just being an asshole by poking at this guy’s name, because no one else seemed to be amused by me trying to give him a nickname. But if they were prior military, they knew the time-honored tradition of giving new comrades a rough time. I decided to drop it for now.
“Where’s the rest of your stuff?” Mike asked curiously. “I’m assuming it’s not here since you’re wearing your PT gear.”
I shrugged. “My buddy Hart let me put a box in her storage facility. She’s cool like that.”
I froze when I realized what I just said. Hart had been cool like that, but we wouldn’t be going to her storage place to get our stuff together this time. She wouldn’t be coercing me to carry all the heaviest of her stuff with the promise of beer and pizza.
Because Hart was dead.
A flashback of that night played in my mind, and it was so real, like I was living it all over again. The feel of dust in the back of my throat, the scent of gunpowder and metal, the sound of the explosion, the pain as the metal shard burned into my flesh. All of it grabbed ahold of me and wouldn’t let go.
“Sam?” I heard from a distance.
“Sam!”
I blinked and saw Mike holding onto my shoulders. “I, uh…”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “I get it. I heard you just got back from a combat mission.”
I nodded in appreciation that he wasn’t going to try to make me talk about my feelings and shit and walked over to the pull-up bar. Maybe feeling a burning pain in my muscles would drive away the ache in my heart. I channeled all of my frustration and hate into my workout, but realized I still had some healing to do. My leg gave out after only a couple reps of squats, and I cursed.
“I heard you had an injury?” Mike asked as he wandered over to where I was.
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “A piece of shrapnel got me.”
“How many times have you shifted since then?” he asked. “It can help get your human body back to normal.”
“None,” I admitted with a grimace. “I was airlifted from hospital to hospital until Anna got me from Seaside a couple of hours ago.”
Mike’s eyes widened in surprise. “Damn, you’re probably itching to go on a run. I always feel like I want to crawl out of my skin when I’m stuck in human form too long.” “It’s been months,” I bemoaned.
“This property is safe to shift on,” Trevor grumbled from the rack of free weights.
“And your pack won’t freak out when they pick up my scent on your territory?” I asked cautiously. “Wolves are notoriously territorial.”
Mike shrugged. “You’re a guest of the pack, and you’re active-duty military. If any of the guys have a problem with it, they can talk to me.” “Then let’s go,” I said with a grin.
“You coming, big guy?” I asked Trevor as I passed by him with a little extra sway in my step.
I heard Mike chuckle from in front of me. “I have to admit I’m curious, I’ve never seen a panther before.”
“I could make a joke about pussy cats right now,” I teased Mike. “But I’m being classy since we’re in a fancy house.”
Mike barked out a laugh, and I saw Trevor’s face twitch as if he were trying to hide his amusement. I was going to crack this guy if it killed me.
We stepped outside, and I breathed in the fresh air. The house was close to both the forest and the beach, which made for an interesting combination of scents. I couldn’t wait to get out there.
“Stay with us,” Tre
vor warned me. “I don’t want to lose sight of you.”
I grinned at him. “You’re lucky it’s still light out, then. My black coat makes me stealthy.”
“Do you need somewhere private to change?” Mike asked politely. “Anna uses the pool house.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine here. Just turn your backs.” My hands were trembling with excitement as I stripped off my clothes in record time. When I closed my eyes and triggered my shift, I was finally able to let my true self out of the box I had been trapped inside for too long.
I dropped to all fours and swished my tail around, pleased to be back in panther form. Trevor and Mike were still undressing, so I sauntered around them to take in the scents of nature around us. I could feel their eyes on me, and I knew I moved differently from the wolves they were used to.
Mike trotted over to me and took in my scent. I allowed it for all of three seconds before I swiped my claws at him in a warning. I wanted to stretch my legs and stalk some interesting prey – I had no interest in socializing. I wasn’t hungry enough to kill anything, but there was more fun in the chase anyway.
I gracefully loped towards the forest, and both wolves followed close behind me. A squirrel heard us coming and ran towards a tree, and I couldn’t help it - I sprinted after it. I sank my claws into the bark of the tree as I ran up to one of the lower branches. The squirrel went to the very top, to the branches that would never hold my weight, and chattered at me in anger. Realizing the thrill was over, I slumped in disappointment, then bunched my muscles and leaped back toward the ground. Because I was a badass panther, I landed on my feet gracefully.
Trevor and Mike were both watching me again, but I ignored both of them and stretched out my back, extending my claws as I did. I wanted to find something I could stalk through the forest that would indulge my predator instincts and challenge me to use all of my senses. Trevor tried to corral me to the left, but I hissed at him. I’d go where I wanted to go, when I wanted to go there.
The faint scent of a raccoon surprised me. That was a brave creature to wander into a forest of wolves. I stalked forward, and Trevor let me pass without an issue. As I crept through the forest on silent paws, a distinct prickle of magic let me know another shifter was close. Not wanting to deal with confronting another one of the wolves here, I cloaked myself. My parents had taught me at a young age how to stay absolutely still and hide all signs of my presence – even the magical signature that told others I was a shifter.
After a few moments, the unknown shifter ventured further away and out of my range. Knowing I was now safe from discovery, I dropped the cloak. Trevor circled me, eyeing me with suspicion, but Mike gave me the wolf version of a grin. They would have been able to see me with their eyes, but all of their other senses would have told them that I had disappeared. If it had been night, I could have hidden in the shadows, and they would have had a tough time locating me.
Bored with holding still for too long, I continued on my hunt for the mysterious raccoon that didn’t fear sharing his territory with a pack of wolves. I also wouldn’t mind losing my two shadows, then circling around to get the drop on them. I inwardly smiled when I thought about how satisfying it would be to see the surprised look in Trevor’s eyes when I pounced on him from above. Today was going to be fun.
Chapter 4
I stretched out in the glorious bed I had spent the night in. I didn’t know how long it had been since I slept in a real bed, but it had been long enough for me to forget just how restful it could be. I rolled out of bed and reached down for my rifle – before I realized that I didn’t have one anymore. While in Afghanistan, it was always glued to me, an extension of my arm. But now that I was back, I was going to have to get used to being unarmed. On the plus side, I didn’t have to worry about dodging bullets. Hopefully.
I padded downstairs to investigate what was going on today. I needed to find out the status of whatever paperwork Austin and his pack were faking for me. Then, I needed to get in touch with my chain of command and find out where Hart was. She had walked away from her family after they had refused to accept that she was a lesbian. She had decided to join the military, knowing it would horrify her family. They had expected her to go to college and take up a ‘respectable’ position in the community. I wasn’t sure how they would accept the news of her death, or even if they would treat her remains respectfully. I wanted to make sure that they did.
Two men were sitting on the couch in the living room when I came down. One had his long legs stretched out and resting on the coffee table in front of him; the other huddled over his phone. “Sam?” the guy with curly brown hair asked as he looked up from his phone.
“Yup,” I responded. It was getting exhausting to keep introducing myself to all these new people. Most of Austin’s pack had been curious about the panther he was housing and had made excuses to stop by last night. It had been surprising to see that they had been varying degrees of cautious and wary of me, but not one of them had been hostile. It had helped me start to relax a little here, knowing that most of the pack wasn’t going to be after my head.
“I’m Rich, and this is Davis,” he told me as he pointed to the guy with his boots on the table.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said distractedly as I headed to the kitchen. I was starving. Healing injuries took a lot out of me, and I needed calories to replace all the energy my body was burning up. I ducked in the pantry to grab a pack of pop tarts to snack on while I investigated what type of breakfast food these wolves kept around. I hoped it included some meat.
Davis strode into the kitchen as I opened the fridge, and I glanced over. He was tall, with dark hair and light grey eyes that were framed by dark lashes. He was dressed in dark jeans and a leather jacket and had the attitude to match. I was a sucker for bad boys, and this guy checked all the boxes for me. His magic had a sensual feel that sent a warm tingle throughout my body, and the weight of his eyes was almost like a caress. I tried to clear my head of all my lusty thoughts and instead focus on breakfast.
A smile spread over my face when I saw the Tupperware container with my name on it. Someone, I was guessing Anna, had left me food. I popped it in the microwave and leaned on the counter to face Davis. “Trevor said you’re on his team. I’m guessing you’re on Sam duty today.”
“You got it,” he said with a grin that threatened to melt my panties right off.
Rich wandered into the kitchen after him, still distracted by his phone. He was more lean than muscular, but he didn’t appear to have an ounce of fat on his body. It looked like none of these guys had relaxed after getting out of the military. “Austin left some paperwork for you to look over so you can have your story straight,” Rich said with a warm smile directed at me.
“Cool.” The smell of bacon, sausage, and eggs permeated the air, and I shoved another piece of pop tart in my mouth before I gave in to my urge to rip the microwave open prematurely and shovel lukewarm food into my face. “You guys already ate, right?” I asked worriedly. We were going to have a problem if I had to share my meal.
Davis looked amused. “Yeah, Anna said to let you sleep in and to make sure you got some food as soon as you woke up, but I see that won’t be a problem.”
“Nope.” The microwave finally beeped to let me know my food was ready, and if I’d been alone, I might have just eaten with my hands. My stomach growled to tell me that pop tarts weren’t actually food, and I flung open a couple of drawers to look for utensils before Davis handed me a fork.
I hummed in appreciation as I inhaled Anna’s superior cooking, and it didn’t take me long to finish the large dish. I sat back in satisfaction once my stomach was full of sausage, bacon, and eggs — breakfast of champions.
“Feel better?” Davis asked with a chuckle. He ran a hand through his dark hair that was shorter on the sides than it was on top, and I was momentarily distracted by the tattoos decorating the length of his arms.
I pulled my gaze away from Davis and washed the dis
h out in the sink. “Yeah, let’s get that paperwork. I need to call my chain of command this morning.”
“Why?” Davis asked with a frown. “They know you’re injured, and all the paperwork is filed to grant your leave. It won’t be a problem.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. I knew that even uttering Hart’s name would open a floodgate of emotion that I wasn’t ready to handle. But if these guys could help me take care of Hart one last time, then I owed it to her to enlist as much help as it took.
“One of my team is coming home in a box,” I told them, trying to keep my voice steady. “I need to know if her family is going to take care of her or…” My voice trailed off as my emotions threatened to break free. I wasn’t in the habit of opening up to strangers – or anyone at all– and I didn’t want to start now. I avoided Davis’s eyes because I didn’t want to see a look of pity there.
“Gotcha,” Davis said softly. “Caleb, our computer guy, can find just about anything out about anyone. He’ll be able to locate her.” I nodded, not ready to speak.
“Caleb doesn’t really like people invading his space,” Rich called from the other room.
“Tell me her name, and I’ll text him to find out her info.”
I followed Davis into the living room so I could talk to Rich face-to-face. I cleared my throat and gave him all the information I knew on Hart and her family. “Charleston isn’t that far from here,” Rich told me. “We should be able to make a day trip out of it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “We?”
Davis grinned. “Yeah, you’re going to have a couple of shadows on you for the next few weeks.”
“Weeks?” I asked with a frown. “That seems excessive.”
Davis shrugged. “Standard protocol. Coming back from combat can be rough, and
Austin wants you treated like a new member of the pack.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t agreed to stay.”
“Yet,” Davis teased me. “But it’s just a matter of time. We have it pretty good here.”
Finding Buried Secrets: A Seaside Wolf Pack Novel Page 5